GOP debate in Myrtle Beach—game changer?

All eyes are on South Carolina as GOP candidates prepare to debate in Myrtle Beach. Fox News and The Wall Street Journal are sponsoring the debate to be broadcast at 9 p.m. ET. Will this debate be a game changer?

Bloggers are talking about former Gov. Jon Huntsman’s suspension of his campaign, wondering whether that will give former Gov. Mitt Romney (Mass.)  more support.

What most have missed is that Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s fall from grace left a gaping hole in the nomination process because Perry was originally favored by conservatives of many stripes, myself included.

I moved support to former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich when Perry’s campaign stumbled in attempts to gain footholds after attacks by Rep. Michele Bachmann, legacy media and some within the GOP rank and file. Perry struggled in the early debates and most of us believe the final debates between President Barack Obama and our GOP nominee will be a critical factor in the election.

Giving both Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) a run for their money is former Sen. Rick Santorum (Penn.) who has lobbied stubbornly for the social conservatives’ votes.

Should a candidate falter in the Monday night debate, it could cost him dearly.

There’s an interesting discussion going on at a blog site I frequent. Moe Lane writes his own blog and he also blogs at Red State. He brought up a matter Romney supporters have yet to address.

“If Romney becomes the candidate,” wrote Lane, “ObamaCare is off the table.” The neutralization of ObamaCare as an issue has nothing to do with states’ rights. It has everything to do with politics. Lane quoted National Review on this point:

In 2008, Obamacare did not exist. In 2012, it vies with our astronomical national debt — to which it will prodigiously contribute — as the most crucial issue in the campaign. It is Obamacare’s trespass against the private economy and individual liberty that transformed the Tea Party into a mass movement, perhaps the most dynamic one electoral politics has seen in decades. And of all the Republican candidates, Romney is the weakest, the most compromised, when it comes to taking that fight to the president.

I commented on the thread several times—it’s important to accept that our candidate will have to mount a well-argued offense against the most liberal Administration in US history, one reason I believe Obama prefers to oppose Romney.

Without the issue of ObamaCare, conservatives lose a key pillar in the campaign offense.

We cannot defend Romney’s healthcare plan and criticize Obama’s. The two plans are peas in a pod and pleading the Tenth Amendment will not work, especially considering the mandates both plans carry.

Romney has refused to neutralize his own support for the Massachusetts healthcare plan. Perry did the same thing on his state’s DREAM Act and we all know how that worked out.

Tonight could be a game changer. I’ll have commentary up on Tuesday.

Related Articles

Current polls at Real Clear Politics

Candidates’ tax plans as graded by Tax Foundation (At Examiner.com)

Fox News debate page

(Op-Ed by Kay B. Day/Jan. 16, 2012)